Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-05-07
FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF CO.
OPERATION,

on cooperation he was asked by the re-
porter what were his views upon the con-
ditions that place and keep some men in
the ranks of poverty. That is, whether
the multiplicity of wants in civilization dc
not relegate those intellectually unable to
keep pace with civilization, to condition
of poverty which gives emphasis to the
disparity OF condition between rich and
poor?
To this inquiry the social philosopher
replied that the conclusion indicated is the
result of our lack of observation of the
same phenomena among uncivilized men,
In barbarism the strong prey upon the
weak barbarism departs and civilization
appears just where the hand of man is
supplemented by labor-aiding machinery.
Implements, tools, machines augment the
ability of man to produce more than
margin grow new wants, and the means TO
CRAFTY them, and this process leads up to
the development of intellectual, esthetic
and spiritual wants. These give man OPP
portunity to consider those about him and
their happiness, and the production of
things to contribute to 1t. 1t is thus that
the capacity TO produce underlies civiliza-
ton.
Opposed to the doctrine of Nautilus is
the truth which he ignored, that the ca
pacity of man to produce food is greater in
proportion than the increase of the num-
bers of men. California is cited as a
striking instance of this, where 10000
agriculturists, aided by machinery, pro-
duce breadstufis sufficient for 100000 of
people In a state of barbarism such a
condition is impossible Now, as the wants
of men are bounded by their intellectual
capacity to perceive them, as this capacity
increases, SO do the means Of qualification.
Thus the more advanced the civilization,
the greater the power to supply them, and
this in ratio in excess of the capacity to
perceive. The condition of poverty, there
fore, suggests at once that there is pro-
ductive capacity unemployed, and that
unused portions of the earth, where it
could be employed, would afford field for
its activity.
That this capacity is not thus engaged
the Senator charges to fault in the organ
ization of our industrial systems. Men in
such a condition of unemployed capacity
are waiting for the action of an en-
ployer." But the employer engages labor
only to the extent of satisfying his own
wants, and the class in poverty represent
the surplus of labor in excess of that re-
quired to satisfy the wants of the employer
class. II, now, the waters" for labor by
cooperating can originate their own en-
ployment, the surplus will be diminished
and eventually disappear.
The Senator then goes on to again show
that cooperation improves the condition
of those engaged in it, multiplies their
wants by enlarging their independence
and their capacity to enjoy and perceive
needs, physical, intellectual and spiritual,
and, therefore, cooperation increases the
demand for labor. But to the well and
profitable doing of anything there must be
preparatory education. Cooperation is u
preparatory school, for its whole tendency
must be to develop the highest skill in the
worker. The employer is but one director
OF the labor of many. But the many, if
united in cooperation, become their own
employers, and hence become each his own
director, and this accomplished to the
highest degree of Skill tends to make each
the employer of others. So co-opera-
ton is school for educating men to be
employers and directors of labor As the
qualified number increases, so will the de-
mand of the employer class, and the COM
petition in the field of originating en-
ployment, which in turn will raise the re-
ward of labor.
The consideration of these points in
Senator Stanford's interview becomes a
matter of deep interest He has clearly
demonstrated, in a practical and plainly
expressed argument, truths that do not
receive due consideration from the class of
men who, of all others, should most study
them, because the subject has been i'm
pressed upon the public mind as complex
and dry, and its treatment has mainly been
confined to popderous volumes and heavy
essays, and has moved in the realm of
political economy study supposed to be
not popularity inviting. At the same time
armies Of false teachers have arisen, and
by distorted statements have involved the
question in the public mind. while narrow
appeals to the wholly selfish sentiment and
to the passions and prejudices have en-
kindled in the employed class spirit of
luminosity to the employer class, out of
which have grown quite all of the labor
troubles of the recent past, and of the
present.
There will never be any settlement of
the question, any rest from the turmoil
and menace of labor agitation in its pres
ent form, until the great mass of wage
earners are, by dispassionate reasoning
such as has been employed in the inter-
view referred to, brought to perceive the
truth, and to full realization of the
absolute falsity and the unreasonable
danger residing in the doctrine of short
sighted and vicious leaders, that capital
and labor are naturally at swords points
When reason and the practical test of CO.
operation retire the rabid labor agita-
tors to the obscurity from which they
arose, and exposes them as Commu-
nists, radical Socialists, Anarchists and red
flag Internationals, the work of restoring